The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Today I was feeling very overwhelmed....the dishes weren't done, the laundry is sky high, there are boxes of Christmas decorations all over the house with only half the decorations up... there was a holiday concert to attend, Christmas shopping to finish, a baby that needed to be nursed, Christmas cards to write, a three year old that needed to be picked up from preschool, an inbox for my email that read "you have 135 new emails", a child's homework that needed to be taken to school and turned in because I forgot to take it out of the diaper bag and just general picking up all over the house and little things on the "to do" list that have gone from "should do" to"critical - you'd better get them done today or else!"

It was not the "most wonderful time of the year" at that moment.

So, as I am driving, I have to stop for geese. Yes, geese. Our neighborhood has about 50 of them that live in the neighborhood ponds year round. They were going to cross the road. They started across and then stopped and looked around, then some started back from where they came from and the others watched their friends, trying to decide if they should come or go. At first, I wanted to just drive through them and see what would happen to geese plastered to an SUV...but I waited....and waited....and waited.... Eventually they all got across. It took eight full minutes for about 12 geese to cross the road.

I went on my way, a little bit calmer and I realized, I needed to sit and watch geese today and realize how blessed I am for my four wonderful children, my husband whom I love with all my heart (I got flowers from him 2 days ago!) and my life in general. It is, by far, not perfect....but it isn't too bad. I turned on the Christmas music and finished the holiday shopping, picked up Eleanor from preschool, nursed the baby, turned in Garrett's homework, listened to Xander's concert at school, nursed the baby again, put away the boxes and scrapped the holiday decorations that aren't done, fixed dinner, ordered Christmas cards online, sat down and watched Kung Fu Panda (complete with popcorn) with the kids ( there is no school tomorrow), finished the dishes, let the kids sleep together in the playroom and put up the Christmas lights where they are sleeping. The excitement of the kids and the bright colors in the darkness reminded me: It really is the "MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!"